Of cyclists and canines...

I think I almost committed a crime this weekend. When I was walking the dogs yesterday, on one of our usual routes in the countryside behind my house, I noticed to my displeasure that someone had tied strips of pink plastic to many bushes and stones along the way. Fortunately, before I started to remove all the offending "litter," I realised that it must be be for the Spanish Mountain Biking championship, which is being hosted by Alhaurín de la Torre this year. 

The cyclists left Alhaurín at 9 am this morning, and they're weaving their way across mountain tracks, almost to the towns of Alhaurín El Grande and Mijas, climbing to an altitude of 2,800 metres, before heading all the way back and finishing here in Alhaurín de la Torre again. It's a total of 72 kilometres.

So, this morning I had to adapt my route with the dogs, as 800 cyclists from all over Spain were beginning to follow the mountain track that we usually take for our morning walk. For two years now, I've been walking my neighbour's dog, Buba, on those mountain paths every morning and evening. (Buba's the white dog in the picture above - a cross between an English Setter and a Catalan Shepherd dog.) More recently, I've also been taking a puppy with us. Another neighbour found Nelson, a little black labrador cross, lying almost dead in the fields; they adopted him and he's now four months old, so I'm doing a little obedience training with him.

I'm actually very thankful for the dogs. I've had a lot of challenges with arthritis and fibromyalgia pain in recent years, and getting out with the dogs every day motivates me to get some exercise and not allow my joints and muscles to seize up. The dogs have been God's gift to me... even though their owners think I'm the gift, because I've been exercising and training their dogs.

This morning, we saw the first of the cyclists go by on our usual trail, already breathing heavily as they pedalled up the slope. I felt very content to be a dog walker and not a cyclist; it's much easier to enjoy the lovely setting when you're proceeding at a leisurely stroll and not a strenuous uphill cycle.